>> business news from the capital region. this is "washington business report" abc7 national correspondent rebecca cooper. >> thanks for joining us for a look at business and fance and the washington regegion where taxes anand who pays themem dominated a week of headlines. we are a also seeing early sign that conongress and t obama administration are beginning to fos, at least behind c closed doors, and s something beyondhe november elections -- the budget cut heduled for next --- for next year. first, a focus on fairfax county and a ok at our reonal

economy from the perspective of virginia business leaders. fairfax county that the distinction of being the biggest countyoth in virginiaia and the washington area when it comes to population. plusus, as t good fortune to b one the nation's most prospeperous counts. in fact, it was fairfax county which wa the first in the nation to reach a six-figure median household income and now has thsecond-highest mian income in th nation, second only to next door neighbor loudoun county. to discuss how fairfax as daring in its economy and what it means fofor the rest othe washington region jim -- president and ce of t the fairfax c county chamber of commerce. aleyes o fairfax county because when fairfax county is doing well, the rising tide lifts all vovotes. what industries the o welell and seeing g growth and wher are you seeing some lagging behind? >> t thank you for having me today. in fairfax county, we are fortunate. the economy continues to do very

well. there are some concerns on the horizon asou mentioned in your ening but we continue seat -- to see busininess growth.. in northern virginia last year, 30,000 jobs were added. compared to approximate 10,000 in the district and 1000 in the maryland suburbs. businesses continuedo ow in fairfax county and northern rginia. >> and landed at big companinies. hilton now headquartered. what are some ways you haveeenn attracting businses to pick fafairfax county? >> and number of other companies have relocated even this past year. a company move f from maryland, a government contractoand i.t. prider and bechtel moved its headquarrs. busisinesses areontinuing to look at fairfax county as a great place to do business every day. but when you l look at the industry's doing very wellight now in fairfax county, hospitalityy industry have done extremely well the lt 12 months as more beds and restaurantare being felt and

employment igrowing in this area. also in the privatee sector, the governnt contract and community has continued to grow in the professional services side of ings. so, we are seeing g growth there. but t private secector is doing very well. >> still worried -- obviously fairfax,id better than otother areas an commerciaial real-estate an cononstruction,ut what is still lagging as a result of the recession? >> certainly the construction industry is laggining everywhere. doing bettein f fairfax county than other places. you are seeing price growth in real estate in fairfaxax county. the great ththing is, you are seeing conststruction, you are seeing projects starting fm grnd up. certainly the tysons corner area, sosouth county in springfield, there is no constrtruction taking place andnd looking at eansion of jobs continuing. >> this week fairfax couounty chamber of commerce host o of thehe closely watched debates

of the season, the debatate between senate canandidate george len and senate candidate budget -- tim kainene. one the t things that generated headlines with a discussion about taxes. at t that we have sound te from both gentlemen. let's take a listen and then talk about that. >> everyone pays taxes. the statistics -- >> federal income tax. >> i would be open to a proposal for a minimum tax for everyone. but i do insist many of the 40% pay a higher percentage of income in taxes than he does -- 47%. >> i want more people to keep more what they earn. we need policies that did not increase taxes butecrease. tim has a different point of view, where he was trying to ise taxes on people earni as little a-- a year. >>that one comment bti kainenerated a slew of

responses from george allen and threpublican party and got a big headline in fday's of the washington post." he ce back ansaidook, i just said i w was open n for discussion but not advocating a minimum tax. you would not anyone in the senate to at least look at a proposal. what did you hear in terms off taxes from both candidates? >> whai heard yesteay -- number one, i think we are fortunate to have two great candidatesunning for senate. for both of them, tax refo and the growing of the economy is the number one issue. so when you look at that, tax reform is part of creating new jojobs, it is part of growing the econonomy. but i t think both candidates are extremely y worried a about the the fiscal situation is coming out of washingngton right nownd realize we cannot continue to spend at the levels we are spending thabecause the is a discrepancy between revenuend expendures. >> membeem of your chambers and nationwide say whave to tale the deficitit but right now

members of yochamber are sayi don't do it at the expense of these automatic cuts, where it that seestratioion wowould have to bid of an impact -- didispense senng one of them. both of the senators -- they bothad something to say abt sequestrtration. tim kaine advocating raising taxes for those making more than $500,000 a year raising taxes on oil comnies and taking other steps to close at blue- tax loopholes. >>george allen, ---- advocating the babalanced budget amendment and revoki all of the funding for obamacare. where dodo y tnk your meers are on those issues? totough choices. u can have your cake and e it too, when it c comes to keing sequestration of the deficit. >> our members believe t fisc deficit is the number one issue facing our national

economy at this point. but when we lo at sequestration, sequestration is only one piece of what could take place january 1. because you u aree looking at th elimination of tax cuts. not the fear -- but sequtration ase know it today will just be ross-the- board cuts in defense a and other social programs. what we really neeto dis take a look at what is the balanced way to bring this deficit do to where itit needs to be, where we have it under ntrol. so wn we are looking at questration, instead oju having just blaet across-e- board cuts, l's ok at t where we c effecvely cut year. but you can't do all at on time. there needs to be a balanced approach. we are vy susceptible in the washington metro area the goes through, we could see hunundreds of thousands of bs lost if sequestration happens january 1 without anhing els a compromise. attention is given to the defense industry but on friday

national public radio dia good story out nih and the funding thatat would l losee. what other areas are you aware of in fairfax county that coululd potentially lose money? > aside fr the trick-down of that, which you have alof this money taken out of the ecomy, but it is the technology industry. both dod feeds a lot of technology companies grading things used d certainly for dod but make their way into the conser m market. you go bk to the internet, how it was created. many other thingngs. but when you look at medical technology or medical records and so f forth, there are great thin being done in fairfax county right now in accumulating those records to make the system more efficient. it is across t boaoard where different thgs are going to be impacted. >> anythinghat you would say to your members and terms of your coming forward, where you see the sunniestpot in the

economy, a forward? >> certaly we are going to see continued growth in the construction area. the government contract and, which is such a hugee indtry, the going to be oppoportunities outside of dod. when you look of the healtlth side of things -- we see great opportunity in fairfax county are aroundrowth in that area. >> jim corcoran ceo of that fairfax chamber of commerce. we will be back with our roundtable after the brea ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [ multiple sounds making melodic tune ] ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] at northrop grumman, every innovation every solution comes together for a single purpose -- to make the world a safer place.

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access to credit. because we know how important cash flow is to reaching your goals. pnc bank. for the achiev in you. >> iis thahat time of the week, to take on the week's s hot topics withth our roundtable. we have two other favored regulus. peter morici, professor of economics at university of maryland and michael neibauer from the washington business journal, a j journalalist on our daily list of mourning must reads. welcome to you both. michael neibauer, , you attended the debate we talked to jim corcoran -- about,t, and you also wiwill up p to startling headlines and freddie's a the washingt post" making a sound like it w was

a bit re contentious than those o of us watching. what d did you make of the subsequentnt flap over k kaine sayiying he was willing to consid a minimum tax? much ado about nothing or something to pounce on? >> rtainly -- george allen's entire campaign is based on lowerr taxes for everyone. >> or even a flat tax. >> or a flat tax individual.l. saying i would be open to a proposal, and that was of course something for george allen to seize on and say well, tim kane -- kaiaine was to raise taxes for everybody. at the end the debate, saying 99% ofof the people to be on my de. >> the matter what everett -- anybody does, if we want to make more progress everye will have to pay more taxes. sinc 50% of the populion really does pay zero income tax the tax rate w would be flattered

if they had to pay something. that is probably where we will end up. mr. oba's denial notwithstanding, everybodis gogoing to havee to pay more taxes oror spend a lot less moneynd we know if the is reelectcted we did not know how much -- that will happen. >> maki a point in n the debate that many of the peoplple may have to pay moren income taxes, still pay more than some. i think he was allung to mitt romney. what was your take on the 40% cent and, the 47% who pay noo income tax -- 47% comments? >> he got r right does 47% or close to that don't pay. it is across a wide range ofof peoplevery for -- fairly or people and people who are very well-off, which have loopholeses. it is easy to be good libel if you are warn buffett and did not pay much taxes. hold on. and it is s very easy to be for more and more government programs and morfreeealt care if you do not pay mucuch or

zero taxes as well. ifou think sebody else is going to pay them. i think at romney -- where mney is going is the president's whole platfm is i will give e you more healthare, whwhat does an that, and i wilill accomplish it all by r raising taxes on the wealthyhy would raisining taxes on the wealthy would probably love with budget deficit by 10% or 15%. the rest would have comfrom all the people who will benefit by not charred -- and not charge anythihing. >> one of the topics thatat has been tked about a lot is closing tax incentives and reducing somof t loopholes. the other t topicthat you discussed is, what do y d do to avoid questration.n. tim kaine at specific proposals including raising taxes for those whmake over $500,0,000 a year, raisining tes on o oil companie george allen's campmpaign s said he woulgrow the economy reduce taxes, advococate a balanced

budget amendment and a advocating paul ryan's proposal to do away with obamacare whatat is the take away? >> the take away -- whether as an ecomist you agree with whher ti mkaine and get t to where he is talkinabout, he did offer more specific than george allenen and i am not sure if the chamber audience, the fairfax county chamber, the business audience -- i am sure they wanteted to see specifics as to what can be done in a retively short period of time totop the devastating cuts that wilill hurt our businesses. they probably lookeded at kiaine 's proposes more concncrete. >> jim corcoran told me off camera thais members thought george allen did a better job sealing the deal l but a lot of the ke away was that tim ka ine was more specific. but what you like the poles or not they seem the leastt more doable in the short rm -- raising taxes on some anthen a

balancnced budget amamendment. >> the reqequest and is what wiwill happen --- romneney or reaeagan -- excu me, r romney versus obama. these separate its, thank you. in that context, i think most of the guys are lookiking at higher taxe if mr. obama is elected and not much relief in areasas where they are inclined to seek relief. mr. obama does not lightwo grououps of f people. military and oil comnies. he likes oil to pay forhe military -- >> send us y your comments. we will take a -- a break. stay with us. but first, the federal hot minute. >> it is september, and it must be, but government buying season. you need to the business of government is the buying surge that occurred as the fiscal year comes to a close september 30.

government buyers scrambled to spend their annual budget dollars before the last dayy of the fiscal year or risk seeing a declin in their funding the following year. in a recent "washington post" ararticle, john from deltek sayss this season could be different because of the ununcertainty over budget cuts, many buyers have delayed or curtaileor campeau procurements. september marks in the annual awards ceremony celebrating the best and government as the partnership for public-service host its annual tals. congratulations lynn miffitson for a study on preventing mother toto child tranission of aids vus. the story can be found on

at bank of america, we're continuing to lend and invest in the people, businesses, and organizations that call greater washington home. whether it's funding an organization that provides new citizens with job training, workining with an anacostia school at promotes academic excellence or supporting an organization that serves 5,000 meals a day across d.c., what's important to the people of greater washiton is important to us, and we're proud to work with all those who are making our communities stronger.

[ male e announcer ] this is america's manufacturing hen president obama took office. this is china's. under obama, we've lost over half a million manunufacturing jobs and for the first time china's beating us. seven times obama could've stpechina's cheating. seven times he refused. it's time to stand up to the cheaters and make sure we protect jobs for the american people. [ male announcer ] barack obama: failing to stop cheating. failing american workers. i'm mittomney and i approve this message. >> we are back. per morici is already complaining will cut h off we do nonot ha t time. let's quickly get toichael neibauer on one of his favoritite topics, china. michl nbaue, you u are trending on e web sitethe second most popular sty of the week.

the top bususiness breakfast spots -- not as popular as bac but your story about a major developmpmentlans for a eighth st. ne. tell uwhy this is getting attention. >> andf the magazine called it the hip plplaces in america. this is a 460 unti 400 stalls -- 400,000 square-foot buildlding -- mclaean based. it is continuing to tnspo -- transforormation from traditionally a black neighborhood too much more gentrified. >> and the auxilia dmv where a pit bull was fence behind d it. it is just remarkakable. >> this is the apollo block, the old mray site, self storage.

>> self storage? >>ome pepeople s saw it as worth keeping and a lot of people wawantedone and now it will be gone. >> i aays say i get nostalgic for the old but the new is citing as welell. a lot of people l lookingng at this article. an aicle i have to recommend isn the friday prirint edition about how much caaign money is beining spent in the ate of viinia. we d did not have time to talklk about that but a great article. per, i have to have time to geget to you. you d i'd love to talk about china. lo andnd beholold, jusust as president obobama was appeang in ohio where the autos w were facacing difficulties, he aounc a wto challenge against china on auto manufacturing. >> the chinese certainly i i doingng egregious things regegarding the automobile industry. some of the most popular vehicles i in china are bewewick's but we cannoexport them -- wee have to make them ther--

buicks. transfer of technology. not a smart thing to do. but it doeses not take on the broader china problem that the president promiseded to take on into bosnia. mr. tim gegeithner running around as treasury secretary saying that anybody who criticizes china or callt a currency manipulator, which any economist will tell you is is an addictive,e, it is silly. what we had in ohio was a deathbonversion. mr. obama has a l lot of convient politic p positions as an incumbent this ar that will quickly evaporate. the chinese are campaigning for roromney -- >> you are right, i was going to cut you off. peter rici. sh we e had more time. we know we will talk about china again. the number for the week is seve when we switched to fios, we

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>> this weweek's numberf the week, seven, iss the number of counties in th washington region desops the top-10 list of the highest household i incomes in thehe coury. from top tbottom -- in thehe top two spots, loudoun and fairfax countyty but also on the list, arlington, howard, prince william, fauquier, an montmery county loudoun county's median household income more than $1$190,000 and montgomery countnty, just under 93,000. we hope you hahad arosperous

week and thanknk you f for joining us. we hope to seeee you n next sunday jonah's any timen twitter.

[ male announcer ] for the dreamers... and those well grounded. for what's around this corner... and the next. there's cash flow options from pnc. solutions to help businesses like yours accelerate receivables, manage payments and help ensure access to credit. because we e know how important cash flow is to reaching your goals. pnc ba. for the achiever in you.